The growth of renewable energy in Vietnam should not distract from chronic failures in environmental policy – Analysis – Eurasia Review

By Sasha Lee

Recent changes to Vietnam’s national energy framework and the expansion of state-led incentives to support investments in the deployment of indigenous renewable energy sources were considered significant progress on Vietnam’s sustainable development path. While sustainability issues are gaining traction among the public, the lack of accountability and transparency in government responses to local environmental issues undermines the government’s standing in society.

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce dependence on heavy fossil fuels to achieve its net-zero emissions target by 2050, the Communist Party of Vietnam published Energy Development Plan No. 8 in 2023, in which one third of Vietnam’s energy mix was used for solar and wind energy and reducing the share of coal to 20 percent by 2030. Vietnam also became the recipient of the USD 15.5 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership in 2022, which set goals for the early phase-out of coal-fired power plants, improving energy transmission networks and further increasing the share of renewable energy to meet almost half of the country’s energy demand by 2030.

In addition to changes to the national energy framework, the state has also sought to increase local investment in renewable energy sources through several economic incentives. One such program is the introduction of solar feed-in tariffs in 2017, allowing private investors to sell electricity to the state-owned utility and its affiliates at above-market rates. This has led to an influx of local solar projects, with solar power expected to account for 10 percent of the country’s total electricity mix in 2022, up from less than one percent in 2018.

Despite noticeable progress in implementing indigenous renewable energy sources, Vietnam continues to struggle with implementing regulations to address one long-standing environmental problem: industrial wastewater. According to one study assessing wastewater discharge in Vietnam’s industrial zones, about 30 percent of all industrial wastewater released in 2019 was not sufficiently treated before entering nearby waterways. This happened despite regulations in force since 2009 requiring the collection and treatment of all industrial wastewater through a central sewage treatment plant.

Because pollution regulations and monitoring practices are often loosely enforced, companies have been caught discharging untreated sewage directly into nearby seas or rivers. In 2016, a Taiwanese steel company operating in central Vietnam was found guilty of pumping toxic waste into the nearby sea, killing at least one diver and poisoning more than 140 tons of fish and aquatic animals. Citizens became enraged when government officials remained silent for months on the cause of the pollution, only briefly alluding to the leak of industrial chemicals without initiating further investigation.

As frustration mounted, several protests took place in central Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City in 2016, demanding higher compensation for local communities affected by toxic spills. These “mass fish kill” protests, which involve as many as 20,000 citizens, are just one of a series of demonstrations in which citizens have clashed with government officials over the state’s unclear management of sustainability issues in society. These demonstrations, coupled with the state’s continued arrest and detention of environmental activists, have raised further questions about the government’s lack of accountability to its citizens.

In response to protests and growing criticism of outdated, poorly managed and unenforceable aspects of existing pollution regulations, changes were introduced in 2022 to impose more stringent controls on industrial wastewater. These controls include fines, sanctions and suspensions of operations for companies that violate wastewater regulations. However, in the absence of mandatory third-party environmental monitoring, critics remain concerned that the law will continue to give government officials, and even industries themselves, exclusive authority to enforce pollution guidelines, which could lead to weak regulatory oversight.

At the same time, the state of the environment has become a major concern for Vietnamese society in the wake of widely publicized industrial pollution disasters. In Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index reports released from 2015 to 2022, the environment consistently featured among the top ten concerns of Vietnamese respondents, alongside persistent concerns about poverty, economic growth and corruption.

Amid local and international efforts to address Vietnam’s persistent energy insecurity and dependence on fossil fuels, the emphasis on renewable energy sources has strengthened the state’s commitment to greening its energy mix and mitigating pollution. However, without increased transparency and accountability from businesses and government officials, the mismanagement of local environmental challenges will continue to pose threats to the state’s future legitimacy.

• About the author: Sasha Lee is a Research Associate in the Southeast Asia Program at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
• Source: Article published by East Asia Forum